Nuffield Health

I’ve been really unhappy with my Nuffield membership. I pay £80 per month for a three-​month membership, plus £15 for a locker, but still find the conditions and staff highly inflexible.
After a 40 minute run, I dashed downstairs to get a post-​workout snack before continuing my final 20 minutes of training, but apparently this dash overlapped (by a couple of minutes at most) the gym’s ‘last entry time’ of 9pm (although I had been at the gym since 8). Thus even though people were still working out in the gym until 9:30 (the showers etc are open until 10), I was still in my workout clothes and I had evidently just nipped out, I was not allowed to continue my workout, which seriously interrupted my training.
The manager at the time said he was interpreting a ‘strict policy’ line, to which he had to be obedient. I found this lack of discretion and blind obedience exasperating given the situation. My training schedule was seriously interrupted and I have been forced into an ensuing lengthy discussion about the rights and wrongs of this. As working-​out is part of my near-​daily routine, I cannot take this kind of inflexibility in a gym, especially when I am paying a premium in order to ensure a quality service.
Given the above, I would urge others not to join due to a lack of consideration for customers. Granted, the machines fulfill their purpose, there is a pool, and there is a sauna. However this is not the best-​equipped gym in Bristol — the Bannatyne gym in Redland, for example, boasts similar facilities PLUS a jacuzzi, longer opening hours and longer and later classes, and is just £50 per month, or less on joint membership agreements (N.B. I am not affiliated to the Bannatyne gym, but plan to switch membership to there).

Unfortunately I’m not rich enough to hold a membership here but I have taken full advantage of the regular weekend offers — you know the kind, give over your mobile number or email address in exchange for a barrage of communication until you attend on of their trail days.
Not that I was particularly hard to convince as this place has an amazing spa area and swimming pool, as well as all the usual gym suspects. You really do get what you pay for with gyms and although this place is eye-​wateringly expensive, you do get an easier gym experience — think personal greetings, complimentary towels and regular free health check-​ups such as BMI and cholesterol levels.
If your paycheque doesn’t stretch to becoming a member then check out the website for weekend or daytime offers for non-​members.

As far as gyms go (the equipment they have etc.) this is the best in town. Apparently it was even voted one of, if not the best in the country by one of those magazines that has a half naked, smug looking bloke on the front, the type of guy with more time on his hands to spend in a gym than is humanly possible. Get a job man! Chip on my shoulder, me? Never…
But it does have the perfect mix of cardio machines (for girls) and weights (for boys) and an extremely good number of both. They also have a pool, which is really nice for a gym in the centre of town as this one is. They do evening classes that come free as part of your membership, although I haven’t done one yet. You can also buy a day pass if you are not in town for long and looking for a gym to use.
They have Sky Sports so you can watch the football at the weekends while you pretend to be exercising. The only bad things about this gym are the price (for us normal people, i.e. not students) and how busy it gets in rush hour (after work). You might even say it is almost over subscribed, as often there are no lockers available and no treadmills to use. it’s a real shame they’ve done this as I know it does anger a lot of members.

This is a really nice gym, but then you will pay for it and probably won’t get much change for £50 a month if you become a member. I went there on a free pass to check it out — keep your eyes peeled for offers in the local papers/​magazines. The’health and fitness centre’ for it is more than a mere gymnasium is situated between Clifton and town so inevitably attracts a lot of well off students during the day and posh office workers in the evening. The equipment is all up to date, clean and in full working order. There’s also a swimming pool upstairs, the perfect way to end off a hard workout. When I went, I used to find myself jogging away next to the one and only Justin Lee Collins. I’m guessing he still goes as he’s looking pretty trim recently. The staff are also trained to do health checks which look at your BMI, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. I believe these are still free to members so it’s well worth checking out.